‘Sahara’ is out

‘Sahara’ is out

It seems a little as if it has taken forever – but I finally got posted a copy of Sahara, my new book, last week. It officially goes into stores in the first week of October.

I know there has been a dreadfully long gap in posts.  I have taken some time out to do some different things, and this post is coming to you from my hometown of Mansfield.  I have spent the last few months here, working on Mt Buller through the ski season.  It has been bliss to be home, and I can’t wait to move back full time.

But the walking stuff is still hanging on in there.  One of the reasons I haven’t posted is because I was waiting to see what the outcomes would be – but I am still waiting, and can’t put it off forever!  In short, I am working with a documentary maker, on a pitch to major networks for a series focussed around the Australian walk I have been planning.  There are also plans in place for a one hour documentary using the face to camera footage I shot in the Sahara.

But I have had so many false starts and hopes that to be honest, I just didn’t want to rave on about things in case they didn’t come off.  So the simple position is that we are putting everything into pitching this next walk, and if all goes well, I will be out there doing it next year.  If not – well, new plans, I guess.

Several months ago I returned to Broome to pick up our Landrover and drive back to Melbourne.  Two very good friends, Lyn and Damien Fry, kindly offered to share the expense and driving.  I had all but given up on my Australian walk; but that week of driving through the most magnificent country I can ever imagine, brought back my hunger for the desert in a massive rush, and suddenly I wondered what the hell I was doing giving up something that is so important to me.  No matter what else I may feel, this walk still does feel unfinished.  Deep in my gut.  And I can’t just get rid of that.

So I am doing everything I can to get it off the ground for next year, and I really hope with everything I have that we pull it off.  It isn’t the walking that daunts me – it is all the sales work needed to pitch it that I find difficult.

But in the meantime, I have this beautiful new book to distract me and to wallow in for a while!  I feel incredibly nervous about this one, probably because it was such a raw journey that I feel it is a very different book to Slow Journey.  I am afraid it is difficult to see it objectively when you have lived it, written it, and just finished editing it!

But the feedback has been great so far, and I hope very much that you enjoy reading it.

Oh, and if you live in Mansfield, I am doing a talk in the local library to celebrate the book’s release, on the 9th of October at 7.30pm.  There will be wine and cheese if you need a bribe….

I will be more vigilant in updating from here on in.